Fact: Fru Is The Best Idea

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So far I’ve taken about as much interest in Kinect as I have the sleeping patterns of Moldavian snails. Every now and then I’ve seen maybe an interesting proof of concept, but it really does seem to come down to other people pretending to dance while I sit in a corner wishing I were at home. But no more! Fru is a game, created by Mattia Traverso and chums, as part of last weekend’s Global Game Jam (theme: “We don’t see things as they are but as we are”), and I would very much like to play it. A twin-world platformer, where the portal to the other dimension… is you.

The concept is an increasingly familiar one, and yet one I’ve yet to grow tired of – two overlapping dimensions, between which you must switch to complete levels. It’s just A Good Idea, and when delivered well, can be enormously satisfying. When delivered in a way that involves my very own physical form providing the means by which the character changes worlds, I can only imagine I’d giggle like a fool from start to finish. (Although I’m not sure if my big tummy would be a help or a hindrance.) Take a look at healthy people playing:

If you don’t think that’s an amazing idea, then we’re not friends, and you’re no longer invited to my birthday party. This is just 48 hours work, and for that, much applause.

If this goes on to be a fully fledged project, it’d be ace to see them consider options for those not as physically able as others. It’d be a bummer to be at that party on wheels. But gosh, I do hope it goes on to become a fully fledged project. I might even buy a Kinect. And make some friends.

A fantastic idea, but it’ll never make it over here in America, what with our Bubba Kegs and our breakfast corn dogs. The developers will be called politically incorrect and prejudiced and they’ll have to make a handicapped mode for the morbidly obese.